This application is based upon and claims the priority (under 35 USC xc2xa7119, under the Paris Convention) of a Japanese patent application, serial number 2000-258392, entitled xe2x80x9cCharacter Group Battle Method, Recording Medium, and Game Devicexe2x80x9d, of Atsumi et al., filed on Aug. 29, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This invention relates to a character group battle method, as well as to a recording medium and a game device, and more particularly to a character group battle method in which a plurality of characters, that are displayed in a 3-dimensional virtual space form groups of friends and enemies that battle against one another, as well as to a computer readable recording medium on which the method has been recorded and a game device in which a game program for executing the method is loaded.
Recently, there are various kinds of game software sold by various companies that are recorded on a recording medium such as CD-ROM. This kind of recording medium is used by inserting it into a game device. The most typical kind of home-use game device comprises an input device, such as a controller pad, and a TV monitor which are connected to a main game unit. When a player or a user inserts a recording medium into the main game unit, a game program that has been recorded on the recording medium is loaded to a RAM of the main game unit automatically, and a game starts by pressing a certain button on the input device. Then, it is possible to play the game by operating buttons on the input device.
Conventionally, battle games in which characters are mainly divided up into friend and enemy using 2-dimensional coordinates have been sold. For example, there is a game, xe2x80x98Bokosuka Warsxe2x80x99, sold by Ascii Co. in 1985 for a family computer (Nintendo Co.), where a player""s rank rises each time a friend soldier wins a battle, or a game, xe2x80x98Napoleon""s Journalxe2x80x99, sold by Irem Co. in 1988, in which a player selects a direction for each unit to move in, then when a friend unit encounters an enemy, the player selects an army formation from among some selectable army formations. Also, there are games such as a game, xe2x80x98Silver Ghostxe2x80x99, that was sold by Kure Software Co. in 1988 for a computer (for NEC, PC-88X1), in which a player controls characters and helps a character directly when caught in a pinch.
For game software like these, the game does not wait for a command input by the player during a battle, but the game continues on and battles are repeated in real-time even when a command is being input. These kinds of games are called xe2x80x98Real-time Simulation Gamesxe2x80x99. Real-time simulation games belong to the genre of games in which the enemy army is attacked and defeated while considering tactics. They differ from xe2x80x98Turn-formatxe2x80x99 game in which a command input from the player is received after a predetermined time elapsed, and in which the enemy does not attack during a command input. In real-time simulation games, the enemy constantly attacks, so it is possible to experience the tension and tactics of a real battle.
On the other hand, as a conventional game regarding a group movement, one where a plurality of (5 or so) characters move on coordinates represented in 2-dimenional manner while forming a group line has been sold. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-63613 (JP-A), a technique where moving speed and timing/probability of a change of direction is set for each character in advance, and an aspect where the character follows a main character which is a leader of the group line is represented with an individual change has been disclosed. Also, in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-233595 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/623,745) of the present applicant, an invention regarding a group character moving method where a plurality of characters, that are displayed in a 3-dimensional virtual space, having a leader form a group to move to a target point which is set in advance has been described. According to this invention, since the positions and accelerations of the plurality of characters belonging to the group are computed for each character and an acceleration for separating from another friend character by a predetermined distance, an acceleration for matching with a moving speed or a moving direction of another friend character or the like are computed so that the respective characters change the speeds or directions according to the moving states of the friend characters, action of each character can be expressed realistically in imitation of a group movement of animals or the like.
Further, as a technique regarding the group battle, in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-339176 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/721,886) of the present applicant, an invention regarding a group character battle method in which a plurality of characters that are displayed in a 3-dimensional virtual space forms groups of friends and enemies that battle against one another has been described. According to this invention, each character belonging to the group finds (searches for) an enemy character within its own range of vision and approaches the enemy character to start a battle, it is possible to realistically express a battle aspect where each character battles an enemy character according to its own judgement.
However, in conventional real-time simulation games, since the game is mainly a 2-dimenisional battle, it is not possible to express the power of an actual battle, and there was a need for better visibility. Also, with the rapid advance of current computer technology, it is possible to display images on the screen of the TV monitor that are equal to that of movies, however, with the conventional technology there was the problem that games did not have the realistic feeling that players desire.
Moreover, in the real-time simulation games described above or the technique of the JP-A 08-63613, there are described only thinking-type games in which strategy is enjoyed, such as games in which, when a player moves a leader on step forward, other characters follow by one step, and when a friend character comes in contact with an obstacle on the way, it becomes impossible for that character to advance, or games in which characters do not search out an enemy automatically, but when a character comes in contact with an enemy along the way, a battle begins. Also, there are games of such a type that a player determines an advancing direction of each group; when a friend unit or group encounters an enemy unit, a screen is switched to a formation selection screen; and when the player selects one formation from among a plurality of predetermined formations, the screen is switched to a battle screen in which characters of a friend unit battle with characters of an enemy unit. However, these games are only thinking-type ones like the above, because the characters are not processed internally and specifically for each character. Accordingly, there is a problem in which there is no feeling of an actual battle in which each character would move while keeping a constant distance from friends about him/her, each character would search out an enemy on his/her own, or the state of enemy search movement would change depending on conditions.
Regarding this point, in the inventions of Japanese Patent Application Nos. 11-233595 and 11-339176, since characters are internally processed specially for each character, movement action or battle action of each character in the unit or group can be expressed more realistically, but no attention is paid to an offensive (attack) power of a group, a defense strength thereof, or the like.
Generally, it is said that in case of a foot soldier, a break-through power is increased according to increase in the number of foot soldiers overlapping before and behind and a defense strength is enhanced according to decrease in space between adjacent soldiers, and in case of a bow soldier, an attack power is increased according to the degree of transverse development of bow soldiers to enemies rather than a longitudinal development thereof. Accordingly, for example, when several hundreds of characters (soldiers) are handled as a group, strong points and weak points regarding an attack power, a defense strength or the like occur unevenly in a friend group (friend unit) according to the position or situation of the friend group to an enemy group and kinds of army (foot soldier unit, properties of characters of a bow soldier unit or the like). However, in the conventional group battle games, parameters such as an attack power, a defense strength and the like of the entire friend group are uniformly corrected according to the affinity of a friend group to an enemy group or the like. That is to say, application of an attack power, a defense strength, or the like is directed to a friend group in the mass, but an attack power or a defense strength is not set to respective characters constituting the friend group. Even if such a parameter is set to respective characters, the set value is uniform. For this reason, in the conventional group battle games, uneven distribution of strong and weak points in group constituting soldiers of the same kind (variations in strength such as a partial attaching power, defense strength or the like of an army unit) cannot be expressed, and for expressing such an uneven distribution, the army unit must be constituted by mixing soldiers of different kinds having different attack power, defense strength or the like. However, there is not any consideration of expressing strong and weak points by the density (degree of crowding) of soldiers in the conventional games, and it is thought difficult from some aspects that a player enjoys the conventional games in a truly tactical manner.
In consideration of the problems described above, an object of this invention is to provide a character group battle method where uneven distribution of an attack power, a defense strength or the like can be expressed regarding a group comprising a plurality of characters, a program, recording medium and a game device.
In order to achieve the above problem, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character group battle method in which a plurality of characters, that are displayed in a 3-dimensional virtual space, form groups of friends and enemies that battle against one another, wherein an attack value or level and/or a defense value or level expressing an attack power and/or a defense strength of the character is calculated on the basis of the density of a group comprising the character and other friend characters in the vicinity thereof.
In this aspect, since for each character, the attack value and/or the defense strength of the character is calculated on the basis of the density of the group comprising the character and other characters present in the vicinity of the character, in a case that the degree of crowding is high and many other characters exist in the vicinity of the character, the attaching power and/or the defense strength of the character is made large. According to this aspect, since the attack power and/or the defense strength is calculated for each character constituting the group, the uneven distribution of strong and weak points of the attack power and/or the defense strength of the entire group can be expressed. Regarding such a density, for example, even when High or Low about the character may be calculated for each region with arbitrary size in the 3-dimensional virtual space, or High or Low about a region with an arbitrary size in the 3-dimensional virtual space may be calculated for each character.
An embodiment of this aspect can be configured so as to include the steps of calculating the position of a character in a 3-dimensional virtual space, calculating the character number of other friend characters existing within a predetermined region about the character, and calculating an attack value (or level) and/or a defense value (or level) expressing an attack power and/or a defense strength of the character on the basis of the character number; or the steps of calculating the positions of characters in a 3-dimensional virtual space, when other friend characters exist within a predetermined region about one character of the characters, accumulating, as the one character capable of supporting the other characters, the character number of the supportable characters for each character, and calculating an attack value and/or a defense value expressing an attack power and/or a defense strength of character on the basis of the accumulated character number. In this case, when the line-up position of the characters is calculated on the basis of the army formation of the group selected by a player or a computer, the attack power and/or the defense strength of each character forming the army formation at the line-up position of the selected group, so that the uneven distribution of strong and weak points about the attack power and/or the defense strength of the army formation at the line-up position of the group can be expressed. Further, when the army formation during a group movement of the group is maintained in a similar shape to the army formation of the group in the line-up position of characters, the uneven distribution of strong and weak points of the attack power and/or the defense strength can be expressed while maintaining the army formation of the similar shape to the army formation at the line-up position during the group movement.
Also, when the predetermined region is selected from a region group defined in advance by personality of a character, the predetermined region is selected according to the personality of a character so that the region where the character number is counted or accumulated, which is a base for an attack value and/or defense value calculation such as when the number of foot soldiers overlapping along front and rear directions is increased the attack power or the like is increased or when the length of development of bow soldiers is increased the attack power or the like is increased can be adapted to the personality of a character. Further, when the character number exceeds a predetermined maximum value, it is restricted to the maximum value, so that the attack value and/or defense value can be prevented from being increased infinitely. Therefore, the limitation of the attack power and/or the defense strength of a character can be expressed in imitation of that (those) of human.
In the above aspect, when a step for calculating a change value for changing the display of the character in the 3-dimensional virtual space on the basis of the attack value and/or defense strength calculated is further included, the display of the character can be changed by the change value according to the magnitude of the attack value and/or defense value so that a player can recognize or understand the unevenness distribution of the attack power and/or defense strength of the group immediately by viewing the display in the 3-dimensional virtual space.
Also, in order to accomplish the above object, a second aspect of the present invention is a computer executable program which can execute the character-group battle method of the above first aspect, a third aspect thereof is a computer readable recording medium on which the program of the second aspect has been recorded, and a fourth aspect thereof is a game device where a character-group battle program in which a plurality of characters, that are displayed in a 3-dimensional virtual space, form groups of friends and enemies that battle against one another can be stored in a storing section, comprising a position calculator for calculating the position of the character in the 3-dimensinal virtual space; a character number calculator for calculating the character number of other characters existing in a predetermined region about the character; and an attack value and/or defense value calculator for calculating an attack value and/or a defense value expressing the attack power and/or a defense strength of the character, or comprising a position calculator for calculating the positions of the characters in the 3-dimensional virtual space; an accumulator for, when other friend characters exist within a predetermined range about one character of the characters, accumulating, as the one character capable of supporting the other characters, the character number of the supportable characters for each character; and an attack value and/or defense value calculator for calculating an attack value and/or a defense value expressing an attack power and/or a defense strength of character on the basis of the character number accumulated by the accumulator.